131: How to Succeed In Witchcraft
The Good
I. There are a lot of lessons that I think were important for young adults to take in- one of those being not to go against your instincts.
II. It is a fantasy world with interesting magic happening in background.
III. The grooming plot line gave space to a bit of interesting discussion:
i. power imbalance in teacher & student relationships (the part when he started picking on Shay)
ii. that Mr. B could have problems but still be a predator
iii. Is it right for someone who was preyed on to have everything taken away and their achievements seen as without merit?
iiii. There is a narrative pushed that as a young adult you must handle everything yourself, so I like that they went against that and showed Shay parents being active.
The Bad
I. The Issues
Does it interject real life stuff inorganically?
Do I feel the political social economical aspect of the story is done well?
Does it feel like it focuses on wrong things or at least the least interesting threads? It felt like the story dealt with low hanging fruit in terms of discussion/its focus.
Does it feel like magic is tacked on and the story is more contemporary than fantasy?
I do not think it handled the contemporary topics well enough.
II. The ending?
The Meh
Grooming plot
Thoughts
I. Contemporary+Fantasy
A. Fantasy
There is a difference between a dark and light fantasy contemporary story where the “issues” speak louder than the fantasy.
Light = low on fantasy
B. Why fantasy?
Why did this need to be fantasy? Why do stories that are heavily #messages need to be fantasy? Why in a space that you can create any world, talk any topic, pick this one? It makes me (cynically) think there is a push to turn stories that are originally not fantasy to fantasy so to sell books. So, we end up getting barely fantasy or tacked on fantasy.
C. Centering whiteness
Why do so many current (Black) fantasies center whiteness? Does it feel like folks are creating their identity as a Black person based on whiteness? Is publishing somehow moving forward with more representation but still centering whiteness?
IV. University/college
A. Dispelling
Definitely want to go against the narrative that university or college is your only option in life.
Also, if you can’t/don’t go your life is not over and you are not a failure. All this messaging about going to right the school and such is why so much abuse is able to thrive.
It makes it like university or having a high paying job solves everything.
B. Parents
Parents: says you are pushing yourself too hard to child
Parents: pushes child to go to elite school which equals child having to push themselves hard
V. Threads Way More Interesting Than grooming
A. The stay awake potion/Shay overworking herself plot.
B. Ethics of Acting
Is it wrong for Shay (who is not good at dancing or acting) to get the part over someone else who can act and dance?
If Shay was picked because Mr. B assumed she was Latina: Is it right for people who are not of a certain race/ethnicity to take an acting gig giving off the impression they are of that race/ethnicity?
C. Power imbalance in teacher/student relationships- it does not even have to be sexual at all.
D. The dynamics of being a non-white person who can pass or people seeing you as another race than what you are
E. overachiever low social economic status+non-white person doing things to prove something vs enjoying them.
F. Pitfalls of scholarship, grants, etc vs structural change around/in college?
G. Magic is not the great equalizer and can create worse problems
Why is the messages just rehash of what is discussed all the time? I wonder if there is so much focus on certain topics because they are easy meaning everyone has an agreed upon wrong and right answer?
VI. Story questions/comments
Does Shay and Ana have chemistry?
Is magic basically a replacement for industrial revolution technology?
Is the cover false advertising? What would be a better cover to represent the story?
Instead of everyone running their magical and physical energy could they have not just invested in electrical technology like those in prop departments use?
Pilar you are an adult being shown red flag…so she gonna ignore it?
Having a character sit back and constantly not say anything but judging everyone is …lame?
I. There are a lot of lessons that I think were important for young adults to take in- one of those being not to go against your instincts.
II. It is a fantasy world with interesting magic happening in background.
III. The grooming plot line gave space to a bit of interesting discussion:
i. power imbalance in teacher & student relationships (the part when he started picking on Shay)
ii. that Mr. B could have problems but still be a predator
iii. Is it right for someone who was preyed on to have everything taken away and their achievements seen as without merit?
iiii. There is a narrative pushed that as a young adult you must handle everything yourself, so I like that they went against that and showed Shay parents being active.
The Bad
I. The Issues
Does it interject real life stuff inorganically?
Do I feel the political social economical aspect of the story is done well?
Does it feel like it focuses on wrong things or at least the least interesting threads? It felt like the story dealt with low hanging fruit in terms of discussion/its focus.
Does it feel like magic is tacked on and the story is more contemporary than fantasy?
I do not think it handled the contemporary topics well enough.
II. The ending?
The Meh
Grooming plot
Thoughts
I. Contemporary+Fantasy
A. Fantasy
There is a difference between a dark and light fantasy contemporary story where the “issues” speak louder than the fantasy.
Light = low on fantasy
B. Why fantasy?
Why did this need to be fantasy? Why do stories that are heavily #messages need to be fantasy? Why in a space that you can create any world, talk any topic, pick this one? It makes me (cynically) think there is a push to turn stories that are originally not fantasy to fantasy so to sell books. So, we end up getting barely fantasy or tacked on fantasy.
C. Centering whiteness
Why do so many current (Black) fantasies center whiteness? Does it feel like folks are creating their identity as a Black person based on whiteness? Is publishing somehow moving forward with more representation but still centering whiteness?
IV. University/college
A. Dispelling
Definitely want to go against the narrative that university or college is your only option in life.
Also, if you can’t/don’t go your life is not over and you are not a failure. All this messaging about going to right the school and such is why so much abuse is able to thrive.
It makes it like university or having a high paying job solves everything.
B. Parents
Parents: says you are pushing yourself too hard to child
Parents: pushes child to go to elite school which equals child having to push themselves hard
V. Threads Way More Interesting Than grooming
A. The stay awake potion/Shay overworking herself plot.
B. Ethics of Acting
Is it wrong for Shay (who is not good at dancing or acting) to get the part over someone else who can act and dance?
If Shay was picked because Mr. B assumed she was Latina: Is it right for people who are not of a certain race/ethnicity to take an acting gig giving off the impression they are of that race/ethnicity?
C. Power imbalance in teacher/student relationships- it does not even have to be sexual at all.
D. The dynamics of being a non-white person who can pass or people seeing you as another race than what you are
E. overachiever low social economic status+non-white person doing things to prove something vs enjoying them.
F. Pitfalls of scholarship, grants, etc vs structural change around/in college?
G. Magic is not the great equalizer and can create worse problems
Why is the messages just rehash of what is discussed all the time? I wonder if there is so much focus on certain topics because they are easy meaning everyone has an agreed upon wrong and right answer?
VI. Story questions/comments
Does Shay and Ana have chemistry?
Is magic basically a replacement for industrial revolution technology?
Is the cover false advertising? What would be a better cover to represent the story?
Instead of everyone running their magical and physical energy could they have not just invested in electrical technology like those in prop departments use?
Pilar you are an adult being shown red flag…so she gonna ignore it?
Having a character sit back and constantly not say anything but judging everyone is …lame?